Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Are You Making Some Of These Job Hunting Bloopers?



It’s extremely difficult for a fresher to find a job in today’s economic scenario. However, candidates can do better in the job market provided they avoid the following blunders.

  1. Failure to have a career plan: It’s important that you identify your strengths while in college and start planning your career well in advance.
  2. Applying for multiple job categories: Instead of applying for multiple jobs, you should focus on the most prospective job category that best suits you and design your resume accordingly.
  3. Relying too much on classifieds: While classifieds do provide quite a lot of information on vacancies, you should also look for other sources like personal contacts to get the best deal.
  4. Going for irrelevant job portals: Instead of registering with a large number of irrelevant portals, focus on a few of the well-performing job portals.
  5. Not updating your profiles: Remember that recruiters always prefer resumes that are the most up to date, so it’s important that you update them at regular intervals.
  6. Not updating the references: References play a crucial role in impressing the employers. You should look for better references as you change the jobs and always inform the references about your job status. This would avoid the confusion when the references are contacted.
  7. Failing to prepare for an interview: You should prepare well in advance before you face the recruiter. Preparing for an interview will make a big difference.

Take a note of these seven blunders people usually make while applying for a job and let you not repeat them!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mobile Recruitment - An Introduction to Next-Gen Recruiting Innovation

Mobile recruiting is the process of connecting recruiters with prospective candidates through mobile phones. With the popularity of mobile phones rising as an “all-in-one gadget,” the scope of mobile recruitment is much higher than expected. No doubt, mobile recruitment is here to stay. Advanced mobile technologies such as 3G will improve the efficiency of these services. Recruiters are now able to communicate with candidates as in real time through mobile phones.

The following are the different options available for mobile recruiters:
Bulk SMS
Recruiters integrate the Bulk SMS feature in their recruitment campaign. Whenever a new opportunity emerges, an SMS is sent to eligible candidates. These features are available in prominent career portals as well where they allow registered employers to send free SMS to candidates. Interested candidates may revert to the SMS in whatever means they prefer. Job portals also give an option to candidates to access job details by sending free SMS using the keywords of their jobs of interest.
Social Networks
Social networking sites like LinkedIn and Twitter offer immense opportunities to get connected with people. These social networking platforms are increasingly leveraged by recruiters. Recruiters can update their status online and send the latest recruitment news to interested community members in their mobile phones.
3G Technology
Like in any other field, 3G technology can be leveraged to boost the recruiting experience. Candidates can use their mobile phones to video-chat with employers, upload video resumes or audio clips, and more. The communication become effective as it is done through a handy and always-on mobile device. 

Advantages of Mobile Recruiting
Mobile Recruiting is Faster than Traditional Methods
Mobile phones are the best way to offer instant communication with the target audience. They are faster than traditional communications like emails. While emails also deliver the message instantly, they have limitations in being read instantly. A viewer can see the email only if he/she logs in to the email. On the other hand, a message through a mobile phone reaches just in front of the eyes of the user, so most of them are likely to be read instantly.
Mobile Recruiting is Highly Cost Effective
With several job portals offering free SMS services to candidates and recruiters, mobile recruitment is becoming the cheapest service option for recruiters. They can search candidates and send messages using the available mobile database. They get instant response from the interested candidates, enabling them to make quick decisions on recruitment. With the advancement in mobile technologies, recruiters are even able to do the screening process through mobile chat, video resumes, and text resumes. All of these reduce the cost of recruitment.
Mobile Recruiting is Confidential
Mobile phones enable candidates to communicate with prospective employers even at the presence of their current employers. Messages sent through personal mobiles are not accessible to employers, so it remains confidential throughout. Mobile recruiting is highly beneficial to senior candidates looking for better opportunities while working with an employer. If their mobile phones are connected to Internet, they can instantly send their resumes and other details as and when required without being noticed by their current employer.